Activision Blizzard hires barrister who advised Boris Johnson on partygate to front CMA appeal

Activision Blizzard has hired one of the UK’s most prominent legal eagles to lead the fight against the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA) recent decision to block the proposed $65 billion deal (opens in new tab) with Microsoft (thanks, Financial Times (opens in new tab)). Lord David Pannick KC of Blackstone Chambers is viewed as one of the great barristers of his time, with former clients including Queen Elizabeth II. Most recently he was in the news for advising the disgraced former Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the partygate scandal (where UK government figures were living it large behind closed doors while imposing lockdown restrictions on the population).

The CMA decided to block the merger two weeks ago, which was met with a furious reaction from Activision Blizzard and Microsoft executives. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick vowed to fight against the decision while Microsoft president Brad Smith was so gobsmacked he called it the company’s “darkest day” in the UK (opens in new tab). The real problem is that, regardless of what other regulators say, there’s no way Microsoft could close the deal globally and split-off Activision Blizzard UK as a separate entity, so the CMA’s decision risks nixing the deal entirely.